Customer Reviews

A. Einstein: How I See the World [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Einstein's science is not addressed from a technical standpoint in this video,as should be evident from the title. The title is a play on the title of Einstein's book, "The World As I See It" which is NOT a science book but rather philosophical writings. I enjoyed this portrayal of Einstein's evolution as an activist. There are many wonderful old film clips included. I think this video is a must for any person interesting in knowing Einstein the person.

I was disappointed with the fact that the title says "How I See the World". This video is full of other people's interview telling about some events of Einsteins life and how they saw Einstein in a political clouds around him. While buying, I was following the listing of Videos under the section Science & Tech / Documentry of Amazon.Com. This turns out to be a video of rumors and gossips and historians work on only parts of his life story. I felt sorry for Einstein because this video portrayed a rather "vulnerable" character, instead of a guy who's word was unchalangeble (till date), and his work a series of masterpiece. It tells more of his life around the WW2 days and political garbage around his life. Instead of telling about work and events of his inspirational career in physics, and his life as a Physicist. His carer is an inspiration for many people (even outside physics). But unfortunately the authors of this video found the rumors and gossips of his political mishaps to be rather presentable.

What a unique man. Einstein really tried to put it all together, in one grand unifying theory. Can one believe in science and GOD at the same time? Einstein thought so. William Hurt does a great job at narating this video. His voice seems perfect for some reason. The film does a good job of capturing how almost desperate Albert was to learn and teach as much as possible before he died. He was truly in love with the miracle that is life. I also found it interesting how he was influenced by Ghandi, and his ideas on passive resistance. Check out Einstein's "Essays on Humanism." I highly recommend it.

This title of this tape is completely wrong. I obtained it thinking it was a series of interviews of Einstein, where he perhaps describes his models of nature and where he agrees and disagrees with how others see it. Despite his incredible intellect, Einstein was capable of explaining his theories in terms that the layman could understand. Furthermore, Einstein was very much a man of principle, dedication and much more worldly than he is often portrayed. Therefore, he also could have described his views on the social and political world. This is displayed most clearly by the three most frequent speakers on the tape: physicist Andrew Pais, chemist Linus Pauling and former Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban.
Instead, the tape is about the life of Einstein. There are only a few minutes of him speaking, and then only newsreel footage of segments of speeches. Granted, his life was interesting, but that is not what the title leads us to believe.
That aside, the tape is interesting, as it chronicles his life, from his early days of opposition to German militarism to his last days of opposition to the growing threat of nuclear war. Einstein was the first, and perhaps only, scientist to achieve what we would now call rock star level celebrity status. Unfortunately, that was only in the United States. Had he returned to Europe, he most certainly would have met with an unfortunate "accident." He also expended a great deal of effort in writing affidavits in support of Jews who wished to immigrate to the United States. So many, that he felt that they were simply losing their value.
I really thought long and hard about how many stars to give this tape. Internally, the editors do a good job in following Einstein's life and presenting knowledge about he responded to and shaped the events of the day. However, the title is so misleading that I feel that I am forced to give it a poor rating. Such misrepresentation cannot be tolerated.

PBS really missed an opportunity to present a great story. Although we found the content to be informative and fastinating, we had to stop watching halfway through because of the horrid overriding "music" that accompanied most of the oral discussion. It was aweful! We'll try the Nova production to learn more about Albert Einstein.

Do not buy this video if you are interested only in Einstein's science. For that subject this would be a one or two star video.

If you are interested in the human spirit and what is possible, I highly recommend this video. Through a combination of interviews with Einstein's associates, period footage, and a haunting soundtrack, the individualistic and indominatable spirit of Einstein comes through. This video gives a sense of a man with enough self confidence to attempt and succeed in discovering new ways to view the universe while holding to unpopular personal views in the face of German Nationalism, Naziism, and McCarthyism. I found it moving.